1. Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that buffers data in a storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical image forming apparatus such as a copier or a multifunction peripheral (MFP) includes a data processing device that performs various types of image processing. To buffer image data, the data processing device stores the image data for one page in a file within a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD). In some embodiments, the image data may be stored using a write-side program (for example, an image processing program). Further, the data processing device may provide a read-side program with a file identifier corresponding to a given file. Then, the read-side program may use the file identifier to locate the file and read out the image data.
In addition, there is technology for providing a first-in first-out (FIFO) buffer when data is written to the HDD, in which the data is written to the FIFO buffer in one thread and is written from the FIFO buffer to the HDD in another thread.
As described above, data is generally read out using predetermined units in the storage device, such as a page in a document. As such, writing and reading of the data are sequentially performed. Further, before the writing of the predetermined unit of data is completed, the data cannot be read out, which may cause a delay in process associated with the buffering of such data.